Finding Your Community
Board game design is a team sport. Here is where to find your people.
Where board game designers hang out
A map of the online and in-person communities where board game designers gather, trade playtests, and help each other improve.
Board game design Facebook groups
The largest board game design Facebook groups, what each is good for, and how to get useful feedback from them.
Board game design subreddits
How to use r/tabletopgamedesign and related subreddits to get feedback, learn the craft, and find playtesters.
Discord communities
The Discord servers where board game designers playtest online, including Break My Game and how scheduled digital playtesting works.
BoardGameGeek communities
How to use the BoardGameGeek board game design forums, the largest long-form archive of design knowledge in the hobby.
Protospiel and design events
What Protospiel events are, why a weekend of in-person playtesting advances a design faster than months of solo work, and how to prepare.
Finding a co-designer
When a co-designer helps, where to find one, and how to set expectations about credit, ownership, and workload before you start.
Finding a developer
What a board game developer does, how development differs from design, and where to find development help for your game.
Finding playtest groups
How to find or start a regular playtest group, from local design nights to online groups that meet on a schedule.